# 1888 in Wales

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1888 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Richard Davies
* Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
* Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – John Ernest Greaves
* Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse (until 29 May); Herbert Davies-Evans (from 16 July)
* Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
* Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West
* Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
* Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot
* Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Robert Davies Pryce
* Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
* Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis
* Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington
* Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite
* Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
* Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Lewis
* Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
* Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd

## Events

* January – Plans are presented for a Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Charing Cross Road, London.
* March – Construction work begins on the Dowlais steelworks at East Moors, Cardiff.
* 11 April - Earthquake centred on Corwen.
* May – Owen Glynne Jones climbs Cadair Idris by the east ridge of the Cyfrwy.
* 13 May – The young Beatrix Potter records a trip to Machynlleth in her diary.
* 14 May – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Aber Colliery, Porth, Rhondda.
* August – Joshua Hughes, Bishop of St Asaph, has a seizure while staying in Scotland, and is paralysed until his death a few months later.
* 27 September – A new dock at Milford Haven is opened.
* 5 October – Five sailors are drowned at Colwyn Bay while returning to their ship by boat.
* date unknown
** University of Wales, Bangor, opens its agriculture department – the first in a British university.
** The Welsh Parliamentary Liberal Party is formed.
** Henry Morton Stanley "discovers" Lake Edward and names it after the Prince of Wales.
** R. J. Lloyd Price opens a whisky distillery at Frongoch.
** The remains of Llantwit Major Roman Villa are discovered.

## Arts and literature
### Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Wrexham
* Chair – Thomas Tudno Jones, "Peroriaeth"
* Crown – Howell Elvet Lewis, "Y Sabath yng Nghymru"

### New books

* Daniel Owen – Y Siswrn
* J. Rhys – Lectures of the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic

### Music

* William Griffith – "I Will Extol Thee"

## Sport

* Cricket – Glamorgan County Cricket Club founded.
* Golf – Tenby Links becomes the first golf course in Wales. The first competition held by the club is held on 25 October over 9 holes and is won by Mr T A Rees.
* Rugby union
** Briton Ferry RFC, Builth Wells RFC, Llantrisant RFC, Newbridge RFC and Tonna RFC are founded.
** Willie Thomas is the only Welsh international to take part in the first overseas tour by a British rugby union team.
** Wales win their first international game against Scotland, during the 1888 Home Nations Championship.
** Wales face their first international opposition, the New Zealand Native football team. Wales win by a goal to nil.

## Births

* February – Grace Wynne Griffith, novelist (died 1963)
* 23 March – Fred Hando, writer and artist (died 1970)
* 29 April – Fred Dyer, boxer and baritone singer (died after 1934)
* 14 May – Nansi Richards, harpist (died 1979)
* 21 May – William Cove, politician (died 1963)
* 24 May – Howell Lewis, Wales international rugby player (died 1971)
* 18 June – Margaret Lindsay Williams, artist (died 1960)
* 16 August – T. E. Lawrence, writer and war hero (died 1935)
* 24 August – Valentine Baker, pilot and war hero (died 1942)
* 5 September – Rhys Hopkin Morris, politician (died 1956)
* 7 October – Frances Stevenson, secretary and later wife of David Lloyd George (died 1972)
* 19 October – Peter Freeman, politician (died 1956)
* 27 November – Ezer Griffiths, physicist (died 1962)
* 29 December – Reg Plummer, Wales and British Lion rugby union player (died 1953)

## Deaths

* 23 February – Evan Davies (Myfyr Morganwg), poet and archdruid, 87
* 29 February – Thomas Price, Baptist minister and author, 67
* 7 March – Hugh Hughes (Cadfan), Patagonian colonist, 63
* 16 March – Thomas Thomas, chapel architect and minister, c. 81
* 22 March – Henry Robertson, Scottish engineer and founder of Brymbo Steel Works, 72
* 24 March – Benjamin Piercy, civil engineer, 61
* 29 May – Edward Pryse, politician, 70
* 7 June – Charles William Nevill, industrialist and politician, 72
* 2 August – David Davies (Dewi Emlyn), poet, 70
* 5 August – Charles Octavius Swinnerton Morgan, politician, historian and antiquary, 84
* 20 August – Henry Richard, politician and peace campaigner, 76
* 3 September – Robert H. Roberts, Welsh-born US senator, 51 (boatyard accident)
* 20 September – Elias Owen, footballer, 35 (suicide)
* 23 November – Edward John Sartoris, politician, 74/75
* date unknown
** John Evans (Y Bardd Cocos), poet
** Morgan Morgans, mining engineer, 73/4